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Martigue-Gallic lakeside town before becoming "Venice"
There is proof that items were transported by sea from Martigues to Italy as early as 600 B.C. The town underwent an occupation by the Gauls followed by the Gallo-Roman era, increasing its relations with Greek Marseilles. It is now nicknamed Martigues, Provencal Venice, and has nine harbours spread over three districts.
When you go along the Caronte Canal towards Martigues, remember that you are not the first to do so. On a line with the motorway bridge, you will come towards "Provencal Venice", a lakeside town, more than three thousand years old, that has been Gallic, Roman, Merovingian…
Historians claim that lakeside villages existed where the current town stands as early as 800 - 700 B.C., precisely on the North bank of the Caronte Canal, where the former Salins de Ferrières site stood, now occupied by the Town Hall. The foundation of Massalia (Marseilles) in 600 B.C. turned a page in history for Martigues, as the open-air quarry along the azure coastline, near La Couronne-Carro, was opened for the construction of Massalia. This pinkish-beige stone was transported by ship and increased relations with Marseilles.
Under the influence of the Hellenes, the inhabitants of Martigues began producing wine, as the land surrounding the town provided one of the rare fertile depressions (800 ha) of the region. The mud-brick, brick and stone houses covered around 1.5 ha, protected by a wall surrounding the town. Excavation work in 1978 brought several objects from this period to light.
This island, submerged in the middle of the Caronte canal, was probably created by the Gauls in order to build accommodation that was protected from the water, with significant work required for consolidating the swampy ground. A fire, started by the increasingly hegemonic Hellenes, destroyed it completely in 400 B.C., and the town was rebuilt in exactly the same place. In 350 B.C., Martigues was now 4 to 5 ha large and probably had several thousands of inhabitants, mainly peasants, fishermen, and stonemasons. Economic relations with Marseilles were prospering,
and towards 200 B.C., the Gauls built a second village on the Island of Martigues. But relations between the Hellenes and the Gauls remained strained during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. At the same time the Roman colonisation was starting, accelerated due to these tensions. The Roman armies invaded the South of Gaul in 125-124 B.C. and called the new adjoining province "Narbonnaise" in 122 B.C. But this province was in turn weakened by the threat of an invasion by the Cimbri (Danish tribe) and the Teutons (German tribe) from the Rhone valley.
After seven centuries of wealth, the activity in Martigues declined and the inhabitants left the town around 50 B.C. Its decline was also due to the fact that, at the same time, Cesar made Arles a colony, marking the start of Arles’ boom to the detriment of the neighbouring towns.
The Gallo-Roman occupation led to the creation of Roman towns, such as Maritima Avaticorum Colonia, built on the territory of Martigues, which became a large farm. Products were transported by sea from harbours set up on the coast, such as Sénèmes in the Laurons cove or Tholon. Christianity took hold from the 3rd and 4th centuries in the region.
The Skirii, led by Odoacer, took over Rome in 476, marking the fall of the Roman Empire and its agony throughout the whole of the South of France.
Childebert, the son of the Merovingian King Clovis, bought Provence in 536-537, and signed a donation agreement granting the village of Saint-Geniez, located to the south of the Caronte Lake, probably the current Jonquières district, to Caesarius, Archbishop of Arles who became landowner of the region. The latter gave Martigues to the Count of Provence Raimond Bérenger V in 1226.
Over time, Martigues, with this rich past, became a prosperous town and now has seven floating harbours and two land harbours, with a capacity of two thousand spaces.
- Source:
Local and departmental heritage and history records.
